Personal From... A Tribute To Mike Garrett

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A Tribute To Mike Garrett

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There was something that dawned on me today, and that was that I was ordained as a minister of Jesus Christ over two years ago!

As I look back over these two-plus years, I have witnessed a good deal of things.

In that time I had gotten four church groups started. Now, before I was ordained, I had helped in starting a church group as well as getting a feast site established.

Minister Mike Garrett, I was ordained by this great man – a man of God – who had his calling over 55-years ago!

He is the founder of the Owensboro Church of Jesus Christ in Owensboro, Kentucky, USA.

He had come to me about being ordained.

Now, originally I was cheerleading for him, to ordain a man that I saw a lot of good in. That man was Leonard Johnson. Mike agreed and then dropped a bomb on me.

He said to me that I had been dedicating myself for years to the Church of God and was being passed over and not being recognized for my efforts by the ministry that I was helping so faithfully. I had been giving sermonettes for years.

He said to me, “Guy, it’s time!”

Well, I really had to let that sink in as to what he wanted me to consider. It was HUGE!

I accepted the calling.

So, he summoned me to beautiful Owensboro, Kentucky – the fourth largest city in the state – and ordained me on July 13th, 2019!

I have re-watched my ordination video of his ordaining me, and I noticed that he did not use the term “elder” in the ordination prayer – but rather he used the term “minister.”

The following month, Mr. Garrett ordained Leonard Johnson as an “elder” in the ministry. And, Mike asked me to help in the ordination prayer and the laying on of hands.

So, when Mike was praying his ordination prayer for Mr. Johnson, I too was praying over him in a like manner – but with a few extra words in my thanksgiving to God for bringing Mr. Johnson into the ministry.

Mr. Garrett has been involved in the living Work of God for as many years as I have been alive!

He has made a huge sacrifice in traveling across the nation, fresh out of high school, with his parents grave concerns, so as to go into a ministerial college in Pasadena, California – where he became a life-long servant of God the Father and Jesus Christ, with the proper education to do the job to the best of his ability.

Witnessed Firsthand

This man of God who had ordained me has sat and ate with the late great Minister Herbert W. Armstrong and had long conversations with him. He indeed learned a lot from him, up close and personal.

He was taught in ministerial college classes by the late Minister Rodrick Meredith, and he was also very close friends with the late Minister Garner Ted Armstrong. He has learned a lot from them, up close and personal. He knew the sons of Garner Armstrong, Mark, David, and Matthew, he knew them all on a personal level since they were but teenagers. And he has known them all of their adult lives.

Also, while he was in ministerial college, he was roommates with Joseph W. Tkach, Jr. as well as knowing firsthand of the Tkach family's apostasy against God’s Church. To note: The Tkach family has a Catholic background.

In fact, many years after the Tkach family helped Satan the devil destroy the Worldwide Church of God, Mr. Garrett had traveled to California and had stayed with his old roommate at his home for a visit.

Mr. Garrett had spoken to Mr. Tkach, Jr. of his recent doctrinal change in the church (because he was the former president of the Worldwide Church of God renamed Grace Communion International) of embracing the false doctrine of the trinity.

During the conversation, Mr. Tkach, Jr. became extremely angry at Mr. Garrett because he had PROVED from the very living word of God that there are, at this present time, only TWO great beings in the God family – be sure to read, if you haven’t already, our free no-obligation online booklet “Is God a TRINITY?”

Sadly, Mr. Tkach, Jr. had rejected the living WORD OF GOD for his own ideologies and for his quest in bringing into that church Catholic doctrines.

Mr. Garrett exposed Joseph Tkach, Jr. in his own home! He was a servant of Satan the devil who had rejected the living TRUTHS OF GOD!

Mr. Garrett has witnessed other abominations and apostasies that had crept into the Church of God.

As an example: It was obvious to see that it was the attorney and accountant Stanley R. Rader who USED Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong to turn against his own son, Garner Ted Armstrong! Mr. Rader (whose funeral was presided over by Joseph Tkach, Jr.) had worked for years to create a rift between father and son because he knew that Mr. Garner Ted was a threat to his personal power. Mr. Rader used his own professional legal accounting practice and also incorporated new companies in order to conduct profitable business enterprises on behalf of the Worldwide Church of God. He knew that he was able to control, by this time an aging man of God, but not the younger. So he had worked on getting the younger out of the way. For Mr. Rader, it was all about power, control, and money. He was a complete biblical illiterate. He was a true servant of Satan the devil.

And, Mr. Garrett was witness to all this. He knew these apostates on a handshake personal level. And he discerned what these apostates were up to at the time that it was going on, but he was in no position to warn those involved.

In later years, Mr. Garrett was able to WARN Mr. Garner Ted Armstrong of certain things he was witnessing within the ministry that was underhanded. But, sadly, Mr. Armstrong didn’t want to accept that this underhandedness was occurring within the ministry.

Well, sadly, Mr. Garner Ted Armstrong had died, and those very things which Mr. Garrett had warned about came to fruition.

Onwards and Upwards

I myself, personally, had a conversation with Mr. Tkach, Jr. in which he became angry with me because I had PROVED from the very living word of God that he was in doctrinal error. I quickly discovered that Mr. Tkach, Jr. was a control freak who was spoiled and self-serving. God’s living truth was of no interest to him.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has said to us, “’ You will know them by their fruits’” – Matthew 7:16.

Mr. Garrett later became a traveling evangelist for the Church of God for many years. Traveling to many church congregations around the USA. He is a very read and articulate minister of God.

He had also taught as a high school teacher in Arizona for 25 years.

Mr. Garrett has ordained many men into the ministry of Christ.

I am very humbled by the FACT that God the Father personally chose me to be ordained as one of His ministers. I did not go to Mr. Garrett and ask for this great responsibility, he came to me and said, “Guy, it’s time!”

Several of the things I love about Mr. Garrett is that he is very approachable, a real person – not fake. He isn’t stand-offish like so many others appear to be. He isn’t someone that I find judgmental. And, he is more than willing to travel hundreds of miles, if need be, to preach the gospel message to those who need it.

Sadly, back in 2013, he was belittled by the leadership of the church which he represented and supported, because he had taught a message “Look To Jesus, Not Moses” – in other words, we should focus more on the GRACE OF JESUS, and of His spiritual blessings, than on prophet Moses with the physical aspects of keeping the Law.

In fact, a great many from his former church didn’t like his references of using the glorious and holy name – JESUS CHRIST. One of the members of that church audaciously said this to him to his face.

The LORD our God says of them, “’ Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!’” – Jeremiah 23:1; Matthew 18:6.

That church, sadly, is spiritually dead. And, in their spirit of death and hate, they began a smear campaign against him – as they do with many who leave them.

God’s living word is clear – if you hang out with evil people, then with time you too will become evil.

It was clearly a great blessing from God for pulling him out of the tar-pit that he had been stuck in. God placed him in a position to do ever-greater the Work of God.

As he has said to me – we each have a Work to do in the areas that we are located. He has inspired me in many ways to do the Work that I am currently doing. I am deeply thankful and very much affiliated with his ministry.

I have learned such a great deal from this particular spiritual mentor, Mike Garrett, and I am so grateful.

I can truly say that I was ordained by perhaps one of the most sound and solid servants of God on this entire planet! His faith and dedication surpass most ministers that I have come across. He knows the living word of God – the Holy Bible – like so few servants of God in this 21st century.

I am proud to say that he and I spend, on average, 4 to 6 hours of Bible study nearly every week over the phone and in deep spiritual conversation. And he is NOT all puffed up and full of himself – like so many worldly ministers appear to be. He is certainly one of four or five ministers that I have witnessed in my life that truly has God’s Spirit flowing through them like rivers of living water!

Minister Mike Garrett is a true man of God and I am truly blessed to have had Almighty God connect me to this great Work! □